Terabit-class coherent communications enabled by an integrated photonics erbium doped amplifier

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a fully integrated photonic system with an erbium doped waveguide amplifier enabling 25.6 Tb/s capacity over 81 km, advancing high-capacity coherent optical communications.

Contribution

It introduces a monolithically integrated erbium doped waveguide amplifier for coherent systems, achieving high gain and power suitable for Terabit-class data transmission.

Findings

Achieved 25.6 Tb/s capacity over 81 km fiber.

Demonstrated integration of amplification with WDM coherent transceivers.

Enabled high data rate transmission using a compact integrated photonic solution.

Abstract

Coherent technologies have revolutionized optical communications, driving the capacity per fiber to multi-terabit per second (Tb/s) in combination with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). With an ever-increasing deployment density of coherent systems, the demand for highly integrated WDM coherent transceivers has been rising. While tremendous progress has been made on silicon photonics compatible high-speed modulation and photodetection on chip, a solution for monolithically integrable amplifier with high gain and output power remains a challenge. Recently, an erbium doped waveguide amplifier based on ultra-low loss silicon nitride waveguides has demonstrated gain and output power levels potentially suitable for Terabit class coherent communications. Here, we demonstrate a WDM coherent system enabled by this integrated photonic amplification solution. The system uses the waveguide amplifier as a booster amplifier of 16 WDM signals each carrying a net data rate of 1.6 Tb/s, achieving 25.6-Tb/s net capacity over 81-km fiber transmission. Our results highlight a fully integrated solution for highly parallel coherent transceivers including amplification, that has the potential to transform future optical communications.